Would he pull it off, or were we about to witness a classic case of faltering under pressure? Questions swirled around whether Cameron Young attended mass or if Shane Lowry treated the club to drinks after his stunning hole-in-one on Friday.
The chatter continued with more speculative musings. At 45, would Justin Rose ever start acting his age? And at 46, would Sergio Garcia? A driver smashed against a cooler on the second tee seemed to answer the latter question.
These discussions ebbed and flowed, mere side notes in the waning hours of a tournament that, over three thrilling rounds, including an unforgettable Saturday, saw McIlroy lose a remarkable 36-hole lead.
Amid all this talk, one name was conspicuously absent: Tiger Woods. But honestly, did anyone care?
When the tournament began on Monday, and intermittently until Thursday, Woods and his troubled driving were like a specter haunting the grounds. From the press room lined with walnut to the grassy areas where media mixed, opinions were eagerly sought.
Rory McIlroy was bidding for his second straight green jacket at Augusta on Sunday
The tournament was held this year against a backdrop of yet another Tiger Woods scandal
Club chairman Fred Ridley briefly mentioned the club’s full support for Woods’s decision to prioritize his health, while 1992 champion Fred Couples expressed his views more emphatically.
He described the dance of maintaining Woods’s affections, and the need to not pry into his various dramas when they have their sporadic text exchanges.
But Couples wanted the wounded cat to know he was loved. And he went further on the subject of living in pain, when he brought up the late basketball player Bill Walton. ‘He wanted to commit suicide,’ Couples said of Watkin. ‘Pain is a rough thing.’
That was one side of the Woods conversation in those early parts of the week. The other was a different instinct and maybe Jason Day articulated it best: ‘The only thing that I don’t understand is that it’s a little bit selfish of him to drive and put other people in harm’s way.’
The point of raising all of this again now is simple. Because once the golf started, the talking about Woods stopped. High as this sport has risen on his tide, it was never only about him. The biggest, yes. But bigger? No.
And this week at the Masters has proven as much, with its many dramas a perfect riposte to those who believe golf without Woods is beyond comprehension.
Ironically, the folk who might struggle most with that notion are the ones running the sport. Sympathy for Woods’s ailments is natural, but somewhere in the clawing for his approval it has repeatedly been lost on the likes of the PGA Tour that he has repeatedly endangered lives by getting behind the wheel.
Woods’s reliance on medications clearly isn’t the only dependency issue at play here.
England’s Justin Rose continues to roll back the years at Augusta, at the age of 45
Sergio Garcia, 46, struggles to act his age after his meltdown on the second tee
But this 90th edition of the Masters, just like the 89th and so on, has proven that great sport can loosen shackles to the past.
For two days McIlroy was a free-swinging, devil-may-care colossus; on the third he was a punchline. Box office and the shadow of a 15-time major-winning great was nowhere in sight.
Ditto when we have occasion to mention Haotong Li, whose wedges carry the inscription: ‘Most handsome man in China.’
He has been giving daily updates here on his battle against a stomach upset, with the weary lament that he had been ‘living in the toilet’. Other parts of his life in the past few days have been spent near the very top of the leaderboard.
‘Who would care if he won?’ asked one colleague, before answering his own question: ‘Well, other than the entirety of China.’
Scottie Scheffler’s mood swings have also been subtly fascinating after two months without a win, but his resurgence on Saturday was merely a subplot.
The charge of Cam Young and the ravages of Amen Corner were better. So too the staying power of Justin Rose and the ever-growing collection of holes in one by Shane Lowry.
None of which would hold much of a candle to Woods at his peak. But he is 50 now, years removed from being a competitive factor, and sport has previous for finding new narratives. For progressing. For moving on. Moving Day at the Masters was as good a day as any for showing it isn’t such a terrifying thought.
